venerable (adj.)

early 15c., "worthy of respect," from Old French venerable and directly from Latin venerabilis "worthy of reverence or respect," from venerari "to worship, revere," from venus (genitive veneris) "beauty, love, desire" (from PIE root *wen- (1) "to desire, strive for"). As a title, used in reference to ecclesiastics (in the Anglican church, specifically of archdeacons) or those who had obtained the first degree of canonization. Related: Venerably; venerability.

also from early 15c.

Entries linking to venerable

ven.

abbreviation of venerable.

*wen- (1)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to desire, strive for."

It forms all or part of: vanadium; Vanir; venerate; veneration; venerable; venereal; venery (n.1) "pursuit of sexual pleasure;" venery (n.2) "hunting, the sports of the chase;" venial; venison; venom; Venus; wean; ween; Wend "Slavic people of eastern Germany;" win; winsome; wish; wont; wynn.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit veti "follows after," vanas- "desire," vanati "desires, loves, wins;" Avestan vanaiti "he wishes, is victorious;" Latin venerari "to worship," venus "love, sexual desire; loveliness, beauty;" Old English wynn "joy," wunian "to dwell," wenian "to accustom, train, wean," wyscan "to wish."

Trends of venerable

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to Explore

august

"inspiring reverence and admiration, solemnly grand," 1660s, from Latin augustus "venerable, majestic, magnificent, noble," perhaps originally "consecrated by the augurs, with favorable auguries" (see augur (n.)); or else [de Vaan] "that which is increased" (see augment)....eight

antique

1530s, "aged, venerable;" 1540s, "having existed in ancient times," from French antique "old" (14c.), from Latin antiquus...(later anticus) "ancient, former, of olden times; old, long in existence, aged; venerable; old-fashioned," from PIE *anti...

redoubtable

late 14c., of persons, "worthy of honor, venerable" (a sense now obsolete); late 15c., "that is to be dreaded or feared,...

nuanced

It is terrible to think of the bad language the scholars of the venerable English university might have used if "nuanced"...

Herr

*kei- (2), a color adjective (see hue (n.1)), in suffixed form *koi-ro- here meaning "gray, hoary," hence "gray-haired, venerable...

Seven Sisters

In late 20c. applied to seven venerable and prestigious U.S. colleges for women only: Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke,...

Presbyterian

presbyteros "one that presides over assemblies or congregations," noun use of an adjective meaning "elder (of two), old, venerable...

Venus

late Old English, from Latin Venus (plural veneres), in ancient Roman mythology, the goddess of beauty and love, especially sensual love, from venus "love, sexual desire; loveliness, beauty, charm; a beloved object," from PIE root *wen- (1) "to desire, strive for." Applied by the

penny

English coin, Middle English peni, from Old English pening, penig, Northumbrian penning "penny," from Proto-Germanic *panninga- (source also of Old Norse penningr, Swedish pänning, Danish penge, Old Frisian panning, Old Saxon pending, Middle Dutch pennic, Dutch penning, Old High

agony

late 14c., "mental suffering" (especially that of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane), from Old French agonie, agoine "anguish, terror, death agony" (14c.), and directly from Late Latin agonia, from Greek agōnia "a struggle for victory" (in wrestling, etc.), in a general sense "e

Share venerable

‘cite’

Page URL:

https://www.etymonline.com/word/venerable

HTML Link:

<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/venerable">Etymology of venerable by etymonline</a>

APA style:

Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of venerable. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved $(datetime), from https://www.etymonline.com/word/venerable

Chicago style:

Harper Douglas, “Etymology of venerable,” Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed $(datetime), https://www.etymonline.com/word/venerable.

MLA style:

Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of venerable.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/venerable. Accessed $(datetimeMla).

IEEE style:

D. Harper. “Etymology of venerable.” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/venerable (accessed $(datetime)).

updated on September 28, 2017

Remove ads >

Trending words

1. autumn
2. amen
3. virgin
4. hospitality
5. teacher
6. pride
7. chaos
8. empathy
9. deluge
10. ensconce

Dictionary entries near venerable

vender

vendetta

vendor

vendue

veneer

venerable

venerate

veneration

venereal

venery

Venetian